


Little Guardians

by jeleania



Series: Making It Work [4]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Brothers, Gen, mention of eating problem, mention of past starvation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-21 17:11:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeleania/pseuds/jeleania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jamie learns that he's not the only one working to take care of Jack.</p><p>Jack learns the consequences of Naming something.</p><p>And the girls just want to have fun and keep an eye on these silly boys.</p><p>(changed the title from "Not Too Alone in This"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Guardians

* * *

 

"They finally left, huh?" 

 

 

Jamie looked up from his sketch book to give a smile to his big brother. "Yep, yesterday. It's kinda funny watching the college students and scientists try to figure out why the lake's always frozen."

 

Jack took a seat on a rock next to the boy, his shepherd's crook leaning against his shoulder. Idly, he looked over their surroundings, his lake in the woods behind the Bennetts house. The pair were on the small island in the middle of the lake, a collection of earth and boulders that he distantly remembered racing the other boys to in the colony so long ago. Now, no one swam here, the lake that was his second birthplace frozen solid even in the heat of summer. He figured it would only melt after he had faded away to wherever spirits go when they die.

 

Looking toward the town, he tilted his head thoughtfully, then chuckled as something clicked together.

 

"What?" Jamie asked, his own head at a questioning angle.

 

"I just realized," Jack replied. "Your house is built on the same plot of land mine was."

 

Blinking, the twelve-year-old straightened, closing his sketchbook. Hearing about Jack's past was always interesting. "Really?"

 

Nodding, blue eyes were distant with memories. "I would come here all the time, run down the path from my house just a few minutes away. Learned how to swim and skate in this lake, taught my sister to as well. She was so scared of getting in the water, sure something would eat her. But I coaxed her in and we played in the water every summer until..." Turning his gaze downward to the ice, he continued. "After I - I drowned, she didn't go on the ice again. At least not that I saw. And no one swam again. Obviously."

 

Reaching out, Jamie placed a comforting hand on his big brother's arm. He got a wan smile in return. Trying to lighten the mood, the boy said, "Well, I like ice skating better than swimming." Gesturing to the ice skates sitting at the base of his rocky chair, he smiled. "I could become an Olympic figure skater or something with all the practice I can get out here."

 

Chuckling, Jack ruffled brown hair. "I'll be your trainer. You'll get gold medals, blow the competition out of the water with your mad skills."

 

"Be famous, become the town's celebrity." Jamie nodded sagely, glad to see the shadows in blue eyes fade. 

 

A string of chirps and a small blue-green blur distracted the boys. Jack smiled brightly in welcome. "Hey, Baby Tooth. How are you?"

 

The mini tooth fairy came in for a landing on her favorite Guardian's knee, answering  _"I'm doing good. Have you eaten today?"_

"Don't worry about that, sweetheart." Jack avoided the question. "Did Tooth -"

 

Rolling her mismatched eyes, Baby Tooth dug into a small bag she wore. Pulling out a packet of crackers, she held them out to her friend with a stern expectant look.  _"Eat."_

"How did those even fit in there?" Jack asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion, comparing the snack size pack of Ritz crackers and the coin sized pouch at the fairy's waist.

 

  
_"Magic._ _Duh."_ Wiggling the food, she just gave him a Look.

Watching a pouting Jack take and open the package, Jamie snickered then greeted the newcomer with a grin. "Hi Baby Tooth."

 

After making sure that the silly winter spirit actually put a cracker in his mouth, the little spirit turned and waved at the boy.  _"Hi, Jamie."_

"Good to know I'm not the only one who makes sure Jack eats." It was nice to see at least one person other than him was taking care of his big brother.

 

Opening her mouth, Baby Tooth paused, then sighed. The boy wouldn't understand her. Hm, maybe she and Jack could teach him her language. She could sense magic in the child, and not just the lingering touch of Jack's energies from the kid being around the winter spirit so much. Noticing the pad of paper on Jamie's lap, she darted over and tapped it.

 

"Huh? Oh, okay." Not quite sure what was going on, but having learned that with spirits and magic it was better to just go with the flow, Jamie opened the sketchbook to a blank page and offered his pencil. With widening eyes, he watched the little being start to write. The print was a bit small, but still in perfectly legible English.

 

Pausing between his fourth and fifth cracker of salty goodness, Jack smiled at the surprise and bit of awe in Jamie's expression. "Didn't think she could write, did you? Just because she's small, that doesn't mean Baby Tooth and her sisters aren't smart. In fact, my little girl is one of the cleverest beings I've ever met. And that includes the tricksters."

 

"I - I didn't think - I mean I -" Blushing, Jamie looked away in embarrassment.

 

  
_"Hush, Jack Frost."_  The small bird-like being scolded.  _"You were surprised we could read and write too."_  Seeing the elder boy duck his head properly chastised, she turned back, scribbled another line of script on the paper, and patted the hand of the human boy.  _"Jamie."_

Uncertainly, Jamie looked back at the mini-fairy to find her smiling at him. She pointed at her written message, and he obediently read.

 

_/Welcome to the club, Jamie. My sisters and I have been trying to feed Jack for the past century. The selfless boy keeps giving it to other children unless we sit and watch him eat. Oh, and don't let Jack fool you. He was surprised when I first read to him./_

 

He glanced at his big brother, who was pointedly staring into the trees covered with the green leaves of May. It didn't hide the blue tinge of blush on his ears though. Biting his lip with a smile, Jamie turned his attention back to the fairy. When he found an amused expression on her small face, he couldn't hold back the chuckle bubbling out of his throat.

 

Ignoring the giggles and snickers coming from beside him, Jack stuffed another cracker into his mouth.

 

Taking a deep breath to push away his laughter, Jamie pulled a second pencil from his satchel. "Mind if I sketch you, Baby Tooth?"

 

Shaking her head, the fairy wrote,  _/Do you want me in a certain pose?/_

 

"Nah," Jamie replied, already starting the first lines to give his new drawing a basic shape. "As long as you don't fly yet. I want to get your wings. You can write if you want to."

 

Deciding to join the boy in the fun, Baby Tooth fluttered to a clear part of the page and began creating artwork of her own.

 

After a few minutes, Jack leaned closer, watching the drawings form. "Looking good, you guys."

 

Tilting his head thoughtfully as he paused to look over his work, Jamie nodded in a pleased manner as he replied. "Thanks." Peering at the still sketching fairy, he narrowed his brown eyes slightly. "Hey, Baby Tooth? Are you more blue than the first time I saw you, or am I imagining things?"

 

The tiny spirit stilled, glanced at Jack, then sighed. She wasn't sure how the winter spirit was going to take this, but she didn't want to lie either. Deciding it was going to come out sooner or later, and it may as well be from her with the kid here as back up, she moved to an open area of paper and wrote.

 

_/Yes. I'm more blue. I'm not one of Mother's tooth fairies anymore. I'm Jack's fairy now./_

 

"What do you mean, mine?" The eternally young teenager asked, confused.

 

_/When Jack first met me, he Named me Baby Tooth. None of us had names before that. We were just extensions of a sort of Mother. We had our own thoughts and personalities, but we were tied to her. To Name one of us breaks those ties./_

 

"Breaks the ties?" Jack felt unease curl in his gut. That didn't sound good.

 

Jamie glanced worriedly between the two, picking up on the tone of Jack's voice and the fairy's tension.

 

  
_/It's not a bad thing./_  Baby Tooth quickly wrote, hoping to calm her friend. _/It just makes me different. Unlike my sisters, I'll grow bigger. My magic is tied to Jack's now, so my feathers are changing color. I may gain winter-connected abilities. We're not sure yet./_

 

"I - I'm sorry. I didn't mean -" Jack drew back, feeling upset and guilty.

 

Dropping the pencil, Baby Tooth leaped into the air and hovered in front of the winter spirit's face.  _"Don't you dare apologize, Jack Frost! Don't apologize for saving my life or becoming my friend!"_

"I'm not sorry for that. I'd never regret that." He quickly replied. "I just didn't mean to - to steal you from your family -"

 

  
_"You didn't steal me. And I'm happy this way. Happy, you hear me?!"_  Ugh, the boy could be so foolish sometimes. Then again, she had picked up on enough of Jack's mannerisms and quirks to realize that he didn't always have the best opinion of himself. 

 

"You're - you're happy?" Jamie noted that his brother actually sounded a bit confused and incredulous. Why wouldn't the fairy be happy? If he could be in Baby Tooth's place, he would be ecstatic, especially if it meant he could stay close to Jack. Moon above knew that the teen needed people looking out for him, and it would make sure that Jamie would never stop believing. He didn't want to think of how Jack would react if that happened, or worse, if Jamie died of anything besides old age. After all, he could rememer how much it had hurt when his dad died a few years ago. He wouldn't want that grief and sorrow for his big brother, especially when Jack didn't seem to have many people supporting him...

 

Putting her hands on her hips, Baby Tooth nodded.  _"Yes, I'm happy. I was always different than my sisters, didn't quite fit in. I was too adventurous, too curious about the world, too brash. With you, I can be me and not worry about shaming the uniform so to speak."_

Seeing the tension start to ease out of Jack, she darted forward to pat his cheek before moving back where he could see her.  _"I'm happy and proud of to be your fairy, Jack. And Mother is too, since she knows I'm content and that you'll take good care of me."_

"Of course I will, Baby Tooth." He lifted a hand for his friend - his helper? They'd figure the term out later - to land on. Once she did, he used a fingertip to gently nuzzle on of her cheeks. "I'll do my best by you, I promise."

 

Jamie quietly sighed in relief as he watched the pair of spirits smile at each other. Crisis adverted, he turned back to his sketch pad, quickly flipping to the next page and putting pencil to paper. He wanted to get the scene of his brother and the fairy while it was still in front of him.

 

"Jamie, Jack!" At the call, the boys looked over to the shore, then waved with smiles of greeting at the pair putting on ice skates.

 

Pippa and Cupcake skidded to a stop a few moments later at the little island. Hopping onto a rock, Pippa chirped, "Hi! How's everything?"

 

"Good." Jack replied with a grin, watching the girls trade their skates for shoes. "Just watching Jamie and Baby Tooth draw."

 

Cupcake nodded as she settled herself on her own boulder, putting the bag she was carrying in her lap. "Jamie's artwork is pretty good. He should try entering some in art contests or post them online."

 

"I'm not sure I'm that good yet, Cup." Jamie tried to wave off the praise. "I still need to work out some kinks."

 

"All artists say that." Jack returned. "I've been making snowflakes and frost patterns for centuries, and I still find ways to improve. Don't even get me started on my sculptures and wood carvings. But you have to dare to put something out there, Jamie. It'll be good for you."

 

Fiddling with his pencil, Jamie chewed his lip, then sighed. "I'll - I'll look through my stuff and find something to submit."

 

"Good." Jack smiled. "Not everyone will like it, but there will be people who will love it. And you can get criticism from outside sources to help point out things to work on."

 

Nodding slowly, Jamie took a deep breath, then looked to the tough-looking girl who loved anything fantasy. "Cupcake, can you help me find some websites for this?"

 

With a surprisingly kind-looking smile, she said, "Sure. I'll email the links to you." Turning back to her bag, the large girl pulled out a tupperware container. "I made sandwiches, there's plenty for you boys to have some too."

 

Jamie accepted a ham sandwich with a smile. Pippa took a turkey with a word of thanks. Jack, on the other hand, shook his head with a lopsided smile. "Thanks, but I don't like meat."

 

Digging around, Cupcake found and held out a particular one. "This one's peanut butter and strawberry jelly."

 

Trying not to let his nervousness show, Jack waved a hand side to side. "I'm good, thanks though."

 

Cupcake narrowed her eyes and looked the winter spirit up and down, suspicious about the white-haired teen's behavior. Deciding to be blunt, she asked, "Jack, I've seldom seen you eat, but know that spirits do. Are you anorexic?"

 

Jamie nearly choked on his mouthful of bread and lunchmeat, startled eyes darting to his brother's face. Said older brother was doing a fish impression, cheeks blushing light blue with embarrassment and shame.

 

The girl bearing sandwiches just waited for an answer.

 

"It's alright if you are, Jack." Pippa spoke up. Realizing her words' meaning, she quickly added on. "Well, not  _alright_ alright. But we won't judge you or anything. Um, if you are, we'll help you, okay?"

 

Jack just looked between the two human females, trembling hands finding and clutching the wood of his shepherd's crook in an attempt to comfort himself. Blue eyes shot a pleading look at his little brother. He knew that he should man up and talk about it himself, but he really didn't want to...

 

Coming to the rescue, Jamie broke the quiet, drawing Cupcake's and Pippa's concerned gazes to him and away from his brother. "He's not exactly anorexic. He's - Well, he's more like a starvation survivor. He's been giving his food away to kids-in-need for centuries, so his body isn't used to digesting stuff. He has to be careful to pick foods that won't upset his stomach, you know? Not too sweet or heavy or seasoned."

 

"So bland things." Cupcake said thoughtfully as she put the sandwich back into the plastic box. "Plain oatmeal and bread, light soups, maybe vegetables and fruits. Gentle things that can be easily digested. Work his way up to the rest."

 

"And in small portions." The boy tossed out. "His stomach isn't used to large meals, they'll make him puke."

 

Pulling another smaller container from her bag, the cute bruiser of the Burgess kids turned back to the winter spirit. Holding it out, she stated, "Apple slices. You don't have to use the caramel dip if you don't want to."

 

Looking up from the ground, blue eyes peered at her in surprise from under the hood that had been pulled up a some point during the discussion. Uncurling from cuddling his staff, Jack slowly reached out and took the tupperware. He got an kind smile in return before the girl turned her attention to her own food.

 

Pippa, seeing that their immortal friend was still uncomfortable, searched for a way to change the topic. Noticing the little bird-like being resting on the human boy's shoulder, she gestured and asked, "Jamie? Who's that?"

 

"Hmm? That's right, you haven't been properly introduced. This is Baby Tooth." Jamie, pouncing on the potential shift in mood, held out a hand for the little spirit to step onto. Once she had, he held her out for the human girls to see. "She used to be one of Tooth's helpers, but she's hanging out with Jack more nowadays."

 

"She's beautiful." Pippa cooed, making the little fairy blush and smile demurely.

 

Baby Tooth flitted down to the still-open sketchpad with the half-finished drawing of her and Jack. Picking up the pencil, she scribbled out  _/Thank you, Pippa. You're rather pretty too. You as well, Cupcake./_

It was the human girls' turn to blush.

 

The three females started a conversation about beautiful people and other such things that Jamie decided it best to stay out of. As an artist, he could understand finding beauty in many things. But he wasn't going to try to keep up with the girls on this topic.

 

Instead, the boy looked over to his big brother. He was pleased to see Jack had relaxed from his defensive curled-up posture, having lowered his hood and was now carefully nibbling on a slice of apple with a bit of caramel sauce on it. Catching blue eyes, he smiled and got a grateful one in return.

 

Content expression still on his face, Jamie took another bite of his sandwich and picked up his other pencil to add a few more lines to his drawing. No doubt the girls - or at least mothering Cupcake - would want to talk later about what had been revealed about Jack, but Jamie would speak for his white-haired brother later.

 

For now, he would just enjoy the good company of friends and brother on a nice late-spring day.

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> sorry, I know I said I'd bring a Guardian in, but Bunny wouldn't stop talking so his part got long and complicated. And Jack helped bring up the angst level. But they're in the next one, it's all written out. I just have to edit it.
> 
> Also, Baby Tooth insisted on saying her piece here, then Cupcake and Pippa showed up...
> 
> Hope y'all liked it! :)


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